I pulled myself from it.
As much as I would like to see more of my youth, and particularly of my parents, I returned to the misty platform.
So, heading out to go look for our fated mates was a part of my culture.
It was something every M’rora did.
M’rora.
Was that what I was?
That was the name of my species.
There could be no denying it now.
I was an alien.
I might have thought I was a human but I was anything but.
Then why did I look human?
Was it some sort of disguise?
Yes, I thought. It has to be.
If you were approaching an alien race who had no knowledge of you or your fated mate customs, it made sense to wear one.
That meant I’d been wearing it this entire time.
I shook my head and focused on the other memories.
I knew now why I was on Earth—to find my fated mate.
It had to be Isabella.
I felt that connection with her.
The bond.
And that was why she felt it with me.
My breath hitched in my throat at the realization…
That was why she felt it with the thing that’d taken on Liam’s form.
No, not “the thing” but my Shadow.
Sar.
The darker half of me.
I’d seen the battle that’d taken place in the storm that night.
My Shadow had hit me with a bolt of plasma and sent me crashing into the lake…
Only, he hadn’t come down to claim Isabella right away.
Something must have happened to him…
Somehow, his ship must have been damaged too…
The memories reformed and I stepped into the latest one.
Once more, I was back on board my ship.
The lights weren’t flashing yet but I was in the depths of the raging storm.
Rain pummeled the ship’s hull and the sharp cracks and flashes of blue and green plasma weren’t lightning at all, but shots from our powerful plasma cannons as we attempted to swat each other from the sky.
I flew in a circle, changing altitude and using my scanners and monitors to locate my Shadow out there…
Somewhere.
He was using the same technology to track me down.
It was a desperate and deadly game that would end in tragedy for one or both of us.
Another bolt of plasma issued from the storm clouds.
My Shadow was more trigger happy than I was and fired wildly into the storm.
It gave away his position.
I waited and, using the previous three shots, ascertained where he was heading and where he was likely to be in the next instant.
He opened fire again and the bolt struck the side of my ship.
I opened fire at the same instant and met success when I struck the hull of his ship too.
We’d knocked each other from the sky.
I sailed toward the Earth’s surface while the Shadow’s ship spun at a slower pace.
Where he was incapacitated, I was destroyed.
My ship, now alive with fire, screeched toward the Earth’s surface.
I felt for the bond I shared with Isabella and steered toward it.
The closer I could fall to her, the better chance I had of finding her first.
All I could think about was getting to her before the Shadow sank his claws into her and took her back to the Shadow Realm and…
No, I thought. That couldn’t be what happens to her…
My father had informed me of the evil the Shadow were capable of and at some point, I must have learned the details of what they did to their captured mates…
They bred them.
Mating with them in some kind of ceremony, and then passed them on to one male Shadow after another in an endless procession…
Filling her with their seed so she might breed the next generation of Shadow…
And once she had birthed a child, it was torn from her breast and she underwent another round of lovers…
My heart ached at the idea of Isabella being tortured that way.
I wouldn’t allow it.
I would rather die first.
Isabella screamed.
It yanked me from the memory and out into the hall of recollection.
She screamed again.
Why would she be screaming? I thought. Was there something wrong with the procedure? Had it failed?
My blood turned cold when I heard that voice.
His voice.
My Shadow.
He’d crept aboard the ship and now had Isabella in his clutches.
I attempted to leap up, to pull myself from these dreams that had suddenly become a nightmare…
But remained trapped there.
“Isabella!” I yelled. “Hold on! I’m coming!”
“Let him serve out his death, Breeder,” Sar said. “You have a date with destiny.”
She kicked and screamed but he was too strong for her.
He dragged her away.
It was the worst noise imaginable.
I didn’t want it to be the last thing I associated with her.
The chair-bed turned and a shield formed over the top.
The chair unlocked itself from its holdings and I floated toward a hole that opened in the wall.
“No!” I yelled. “I’m still alive! Let me go! I need to go!”
But Computer said nothing.
Isabella
The asshole threw me in a room and locked the door behind me.
I banged on it with my fists.
“Let me out! Let me out!”
When it wouldn’t give, I kicked at it and immediately regretted it.
I hopped back and rubbed at my mashed toes.
The door didn’t budge and no amount of pounding was going to change that.
I took a moment and gathered my strength.
How did Ras command this ship again?
Oh yeah…
“Computer, unlock this door.”
Computer made a noise that sounded negative.
“You lack the proper authority.”
“So give me the proper authority!”
“Please speak to your station manager to attain greater access.”
“I don’t have a fucking station manager!”
Computer didn’t respond.
I had to remind myself the voice I was speaking to was little more than Alexa or Cortana on my devices back home.
“Okay,” I said, summoning what few reserves of patience I had remaining. “I came on this ship with Clint.”
“I have no file under that name.”
“Clint… Clint! The guy you did your little operation on a minute ago!”
“You’re referring to Captain Ras Archilon.”
Captain Ras?
Was that his real name?
“Right,” I said. “Ras. I came on board with him so give me the same authority he has.”
“Negative. You may speak with him personally but I cannot authorize you to—”
I growled and
